THE SINGLES COLLECTION

This is an absolutley brilliant collection of Bowie singles. I would recomend this as an introduction to Bowie, as it was mine. You will be introduced to many facets of his musical personality. Most of the material on here is on Bowie studio albums with a few exceptions. 'John, I'm Only Dancing', a single accompanying one of Bowie's Ziggy-era albums (can't remember which one), is a great glam rock tune. 'Under Pressure', the famous collaboration with Queen, and can be found on a Queen album, is excellent. 'Alabama Song', of which The Doors version may be familiar to you. Nothing special about that one. 'This is Not America', a collaboration with Pat Metheny, should not be missed. 'Dancing in the Streets', a charity single with Mick Jagger, is missable. 'Absolute Beginners' can be found on the soundtrack of the same name, and is a top quality ballad. Everything else can be found on Studio albums (plus one on a live album), by Bowie, so people who already own most of his 70s and 80s material shouldn't have a lot of use for this, apart from completion's sake. It is, however, great for anyone wishing to discover Bowie's legacy for the first time. In fact, for those people it would be an excellent addition for their prog collection, justifying four stars for this excellent compilation.

I purchased this double CD set when I was constructing my CD collection (back to 96 or so). I found it interesting enough to buy even if I possessed each track featured here. The purpose was to get all of his hit singles on a handy double CD set.

What's nice with this exhaustive singles compilation is that you have of course all these great musical moments (just look at the track list), but some non albums songs are also featured like the very good "John, I'm Only Dancing".

There are also some weaker songs on this compilation, like "Sorrow" for instance. The poorest here. If you have read my album reviews of the man, you know that I am not at all in love with his soul period ("Young Americans") and therefore "Fame" and "Golden Years" (this one being featured on the excellent "Station To Station" album) are not my cup of tea.

All of his timeless songs are present: from "Space Oditty" through "Day-In Day Out". It is such a great trip into his most commercial repertoire.

Is this the best entry for someone willing to tackle his repertoire? I don't know.

There are no track from "The Man." and only one from "Low" (one of his masterpiece IMHHO). But that's what a single collection is all about, right. No "Station To Station", no "Five Years", no "Time", no "Warzawa", no "1984" etc.

But don't worry, you will be so glad to listen to the extraordinary "Life On Mars", "Jean Genie", "Scary Monsters" and "Modern Love" that you will easily accept this double CD set for what it is: a great collection of songs which have marked the seventies and the eighties.

I decided to pick this album for my 1,800th review. Four stars for dear old David.

A good collection from a man who added some colour to the last quarter of the 1900th century.

I know I should really get into his studio albums instead of wasting my time on a best off sampler like this. But the track-list here is eye-watering. Gosh !! There is some fantastic songs where who really set the standard for the art rock scene.

There is no point of listing up all the great songs here. Space Odditity is brilliant. The same is Life On Mars and Ziggy Stardust. Under Pressure with Queen and Dancing In The Streets with Mick Jagger is substandard tracks. The commercial tracks from the beginning of the 1980s also does nothing for me. The rest is pop and rock'n'roll history and superb stuff. We can always argue about the songs included and the songs exluded from this compilation album. But this double CD acts as a incentive to buy all his other albums. And that is what I intend to do. This compilaton is an excellent compilation and one that gives me a lot of pleasure.

4 stars

It is quite long ago that I bought this cd, thinking that in a decent cd collection, there should be something present of David Bowie. In the past. I liked "The Jean Genie" and "Life on Mars" when these songs were hits. Particullary, the last song is a very musical good song. I believe that it was on of the members of the Rolling Stones, I think it was Keith Richards, who some time ago said that David Bowie never wrote a decent song or something like that. Although I think that an artist should never say that about a collegue artist, I tend to agree with him. Except for the 2 songs mentioned. Undoubtfully a matter of taste, but I cannot find songs on this album that I really like. And that surprised me realising the big succes that Bowie has.

From 1993, this 2 cd set has just about every singles release by David Bowie up to that time, from old stuff like "Ziggy Stardust", "Space Oddity" up through his recent, at thnat time songs "modern Love" and "Blue Jean". While I really enjoy the 70's David Bowie, I find he "popped out" and "discoed-out" later on and falied to interest me. So, the first cd here is what I and most prog fans wish to hear. The second cd, except for a few top numbers like "Heroes" and "Ashes to Ashes", rarely makes my cd player or Ipod. 3 stars overall